


Not As Intended

by VanScritto



Category: The Tomorrow People (2013)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-23
Updated: 2013-11-23
Packaged: 2018-01-02 10:35:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1055769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VanScritto/pseuds/VanScritto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This did not go as planned, John thinks.<br/>He'd only wanted to linger, to watch. He hadn't intended to get even.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not As Intended

This did not go as planned, John thinks.

He lets his eyes wander over the brown curls on the pillow next to him down towards where she's snuggled into the sheets half-covering her face and the rest of her form.  
This definitely did not go as planned.  
Although, to be fair, he hadn't really had a plan when he sought her out last night. Or all the other nights before, for that matter.

He'd started seeking her out, watching her after Cara told him about her one night stand with Stephen. And, despite all his suspicions, despite the fact that he hadn't been a model boyfriend until then, it had hit him like a ton of bricks. And then he had hit Stephen like a ton of bricks.  
And then, everything was supposed to be fine. But just because everyone was good at ignoring the elephant in the room didn't mean that things were actually 'fine'.  
For some reason, John had found himself drawn away from them. Or drawn to her, whichever it was. He had wanted to know her, to read her, to see the equivalent part of Stephen's life that he had taken from him.

And now he had actually done the equivalent to Stephen that he had done to him. Or maybe not. Stephen isn't in love with Astrid.  
She stirs beside him now, snuggling deeper into the sheets. He resists the urge to pull the blanket up from the foot of the bed and cover her with it. She looks so young when she's sleeping.

But who is he kidding, Astrid is young.

"You know, if Stephen has sent you here to secretly keep an eye on me while he's out chasing some superpowered villains, then you're doing a pretty terrible job at the whole 'secretly' part."  
She had waited for him behind a corner, ambushing him as he followed her. He'd thought it was kind of cute that she thought Stephen would send a personal bodyguard for her. How she still thought of him as her own personal hero, even though he was slipping away a little more every day. Soon, she'd be a mere thought in the back of his head just like every friend or lover they ever had would fade away.  
"Maybe I'm supposed to test your ability to keep yourself safe," he'd countered. She'd smiled. He knows now that this was the moment he should have turned around and walked away. But she'd smiled and she'd looked so innocent and beautiful, and Stephen had just stood her up yet again.  
"Well, did I pass?"  
"Barely. When you know someone's following you, you're not supposed to stop and confront them. I could have been anyone." He had sounded more concerned than he had intended.  
"But you're not anyone," she'd said. "You're John."  
And even though he'd had no idea how she knew that, he had let her drag him to the nearest café. She'd even made him quiz her for an upcoming test. Not that she'd needed it.

"Are you trying to read my mind?" she asks, her voice sleepy.  
She hasn't even looked up yet.  
As if she were the one with the telepathic powers, he thinks.

"No," he says truthfully, but doesn't know what else to say. She seems satisfied with his answer, though.  
"Good, I always hate it when Stephen does that. I feel like I have to control my thoughts around him now."  
Well, John thinks, if Stephen had paid attention, he'd have known about Astrid's feelings without having to read her mind. Her thoughts are all over her face, all the time.  
"I'm sure he doesn't do it on purpose," John says, but he's not sure why he's defending him.  
"End result is the same though." She wiggles around under covers and —if that were possible— tries to snuggle deeper into them. John resists the urge to reach out and pull her closer into him.

"Is this going to be weird?" she asks and looks him directly in the eye. "I don't want it to be weird."  
"It's not weird right now, is it?" He says. Deflecting. She laughs.  
"It's a little weird, what with you staring at me while I'm still sleeping. And with my hair being a mess."  
"And with us naked in a bed together, with your parents being downstairs," he suggests. She laughs again and shakes her head.  
"They're out of town."  
"Are they now?" This time, he's the one laughing as she slaps his arm. Her alarm clock rings, she twists to turn it off.  
"I have to go to school," she says and pouts.  
"I have to go do… non-school stuff," he says, a little miffed at the reminder.

She'll go to school. Where she will see Stephen. Who, as it just occurs to John, will read her mind and know what happened.  
He needs to run interference.  
Or something.

"You have until third period," she says as she gets up and modestly puts on a shirt before going to the bathroom. "I won't see Stephen until then."  
As if it were her with the telepathic powers, John thinks again.

He gets up and dressed in what feels like an eternity. He feels like he should say or do something. But he doesn't even know what happened here.  
"John?" she asks reluctantly from the bathroom. "Are you still there?"  
"Yes." As if he'd teleport out of her bedroom without telling her.  
"If you ever come by Buttercup's on 2nd Avenue, I really love their Lady Baltimore cupcakes."  
"You do?" he asks, amused. Not because she's asking him to steal —or, well, buy— cupcakes, but because he understands what she's really telling him: that she knows Stephen didn't send him. She probably knows what his intentions were from the very beginning.  
"I take it you've never had them," she says as she steps out of the bathroom. "You really should."  
"I'll keep that in mind," he says. "I should go now if I want to catch Stephen at a good time."  
"Yes," she agrees and, almost automatically, kisses him on the cheek. "See you later."

As if she were the one with the telepathic powers.


End file.
